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Kitty Foster (ca. 1790–1863)

Kitty Foster was a free African American
woman who owned property just south of the University of Virginia, the site of which has been
memorialized by the school. Born enslaved in Albemarle
County, Foster was free by 1820 and renting land in an African American
community near the university known as Canada. She purchased just more than two acres
from a white merchant in 1833 and lived there until her death, washing clothes for
students and faculty. In 1837, a university report accused her of holding firearms
for students who were prohibited from carrying them on the university's grounds.
Foster died in 1863 and was buried in a cemetery on her property. Archaeologists
discovered the cemetery in 1993, and in 2011 the University of Virginia dedicated a
memorial on the site. MORE...

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Catherine Foster, also known as Kitty, was born enslaved in Albemarle County sometime
between 1790 and 1795. Her owner may have been Henry Foster, a white farmer whose
will mentioned a slave named Cati. Ownership of Cati passed to Foster's widow,
Elizabeth Foster. Nothing is known of Kitty Foster's parents or early life. She is
listed in the 1830 federal census as white, suggesting that she may have been
light-skinned and possibly the daughter of a white man. About 1816 she gave birth to
a daughter, Sarah. She had two sons, German Evans and Burwell Evans, in 1817 and 1820
respectively. A daughter, Ann Foster, was born in 1830. The father or fathers of
these children is unknown.

By 1820, Kitty Foster was free and living as a
tenant in Albemarle County, just south of the University of Virginia. A community of
several free African American households in that neighborhood came to be known as
Canada. They worked as washerwomen, seamstresses, carpenters, and cobblers, mostly
serving students and faculty. The presence of free American Americans at the
university was generally discouraged, so much so that in 1847 the proctor recommended
that washing be done by white hotelkeepers rather than local black women. The laws of
Virginia also discouraged the presence of free blacks, restricting their rights and,
according to an 1806 act,
requiring that all newly freed
African Americans leave Virginia within twelve months. Records show that the
university paid Foster $4 in October 1832 to wash clothes.

In December 1833, Foster purchased slightly more than two acres of land in Canada
previously owned and leased out by the white merchant John Winn. Historians have
suggested that the purchase, just two years after Nat Turner's Revolt and the subsequent passage of laws restricting the
movement and actions of free blacks, may have served as an attempt to bolster her and
her family's social standing and safety.

Foster's name appears in the University of
Virginia's faculty minutes in 1834, detailing an incident on May 31 in which several
students had "conducted themselves in a disorderly manner" in Canada, throwing flower
pots and attempting to enter her home. She is mentioned again on June 3, 1837, this
time in the journal of the faculty chairman, John A. G. Davis. Students regularly rioted and fired off weapons, which were
banned from the university's grounds, and Davis noted that they may have been storing
their arms at Foster's home. It is not clear how she may have come to hold the
weapons, why, or whether any action was taken, although free blacks were themselves
prohibited from possessing firearms. Davis was shot and killed three years later by a
student.

Another attempt at bolstering the family's standing came on October 6, 1857, when two
of Foster's grandchildren, twelve-year-old Susan Catharine Foster and nine-year-old
Clayton R. Foster, applied to the Albemarle County Court for certification that they
were neither free negroes nor mulattoes but rather what the General Assembly had
described, in an 1833
law, as free persons of mixed blood. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's grandson and
then a member of the university's board of visitors, appeared in behalf of the
children and the court agreed that they were "not negroes," a distinction that
allowed them to circumvent many of the restrictions on free African Americans. It did
not, however, give them the full rights of white people.

Tax records from 1840 indicate improvements to the Foster property totaling $150, and
a decade later her real estate was assessed as valuing $450. In 1860, its value had
risen to $4,000, with Foster's personal property totaling $300. Foster wrote her will
in 1859 and died in 1863. She was buried in a cemetery on her property.

The Foster family continued to reside on the property until 1906. In 1993,
archaeologists discovered about a dozen graves there, in what has come to be known as
the South Lawn of the University of Virginia. Twenty more were found in 2005, and in
2011, President Teresa A. Sullivan dedicated a small park and memorial to Foster that
includes a "shadow catcher" outlining the footprint of Foster's house and nearby
cemetery.

Time Line

ca. 1790–1795
- Kitty Foster is born enslaved in Albemarle County.

1816
- Kitty Foster gives birth to a daughter, Sarah.

1817
- Kitty Foster gives birth to a son, German Evans.

1820
- Kitty Foster, once a slave and now free, gives birth to a son, Burwell Evans.

1830
- Kitty Foster gives birth to a daughter, Ann.

October 1832
- The University of Virginia pays Kitty Foster $4 to wash clothes.

December 1833
- Kitty Foster purchases slightly more than two acres of land in a neighborhood of free blacks known as Canada, just south of the University of Virginia.

May 31, 1834
- The University of Virginia faculty minutes report that students were disorderly and attempted to enter the home of Kitty Foster, a free black woman.

June 3, 1837
- John A. G. Davis, the University of Virginia faculty, notes that the free black woman Kitty Foster may be storing weapons for students.

1863
- Kitty Foster dies and is buried on her property just south of the University of Virginia.

1993
- Archaeologists discover about a dozen graves in the area of the University of Virginia known as the South Lawn. They are associated with the property once owned by the free black woman Kitty Foster.

2005
- Twenty more graves are discovered in the area of the University of Virginia known as the South Lawn. They are associated with the property once owned by the free black woman Kitty Foster.

2011
- The University of Virginia president, Teresa A. Sullivan, dedicates a small park and memorial to the free black woman Kitty Foster.